Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1887-10-22
ANOTHER RAILROAD HORROR

This Time in Tndiana-Due TO he Careless.
nee or laundering "a, Iygay Employees
The Killed and Wounded Estimated ID
Thirty 20 Fifty
CHICAGO October Ian accident DC
Cured on the Chicago . Atlantic railway
Last night, near KOut, Ind, in which It is
reported some fifteen people were killed. a
fast freight tram ran into the rear end of a
passenger train, tllescoping two cars. 1t is
not yet known In which direction the pas
senger train was going. At the general
Oflce Of tbs Chicago q Atlantic railroad
here no information on the subject can be
obtained.
/ CHICAGO, October 1I.-Reports received
here are to the effect that twenty five psOple
/ We're killed and a large number of others IN
/ lureu IA the wreck on the Chicago u Alta u
| TIC. The catastrophe occurred at KOut, a
/ small station hity-tivs miles from Chicago.
/ 1t IS inferred that the fatal train was a pas
] senger and express from tine east, due IN
/ Chicago this morning. A relief expedition
! was quickly and secretly organized by the
( railroad officials here and dispatched TO the
I scene. Other help was TO be hurried forward
l as soon as possible. Two passenger trains
I arrive IN Chicago early IN tins morning from
/ the east. 1t is not known which was iuyolv-
/ ed, officials of the company refusing the
! slightest scrap Of information. AS nearly as
/ can be judged, the horror occurred between
| 3 and O'Clock thi= morning.
hOUr, IND, October 1.-The worst hOr-
| rOrs of ChatsWOrth were duplicated here to-
| day. A dozen of blood stained smoke be-
/ grImed, injured victims of railroad care
] lessness or laundering Uttered the lit
/ tie station house this afternoon. Ih5
/ hotel and other available resting
/ places were occupied. Nine charred corpses,
| victims Of the same laundering or care
lessness, were laid upOa the station
| PLATFORM while three miles west, down
] the track, beside a lonely water tank,
l piles Of teartully tangled debris mark
/ cd the spot whore a collision seldom
I equalled fc- terrible results occur
| red. According TO the best estimate obtain
/ able for only an estimate was possible, fully
/ thirty human beings had been sacrificed ont
/ right and half that number of persons had
/ suffered injuries more or less Sc
/ we're. The east bound express tnat left
/ Chicago last night had without warning,
/ during temporary wait, been smashed into
| from behind BY fast freight,
ness, in hurrying dressed meat to the
markets of the seabOard. The passenger
/ engine was disabled and a tri1Ing stop was
made to tx it. Everything was considered
/ all right and the stop was accordingly made.
/ Out Of the darkness behind burst a head
/ lghtythe rush of many wheels was heard and
/ then fearful crash. The sleeping coach
/ now got in its deadly WORK. Pushed
/ forward by the freight, 1t crashed headlOng,
smashing the comparatively light cars and
making short the work of destruction. Cars
l took hre and the sight of the shrl6klng VIC
I tins was one never to be forgotten.
To-day, on his bed of agony in the little
l hotel at kOuts, the engineer of the pa5s5u-
| ger told the following stOrys
! 1--WE passed No. - at Boone Grove on
| time and started away. No. 40 pulled out
| should have waited much longer.
/ When We were well away from
! town we could see her lights. The engine
/ was ION one side as We had broken an ecCen-
] rrIg sfraB and FumnTmu side
having been forced to discOuuec5 the other
side. OF course the accident had our speed
down some, but we had no idea that the en-
gineer Of No 40 would have any difficulty
Ia keeping of from cur heels. The last time
l looked back there was ample room be-
tween US We stopped at the Boone Or We
water tank and were there almost a minute
before they struck u.s."
This afternoon when reporters who had
been long d-layed IN reaching kOuE, owing
to the secretiveuess Of the railroad officials,
began at last TO arrive there was little IN the
aspect Of the village to indicate the calamity
that mad so recently taken place. All the
dead bodies had been carefully removed
from sight. Only two Of the wounded were
still in the village and the local employs
Of ths road were dear and dumb 70 all seek
era after Information The coroner had
been obliged TO 90 to Huntington, over fifty
miles distant. to obtain statements OF wit
nsSses, and villagers seemed wholly at sea
regarding the extent OF the disaster. About
the only person able and willing TO tell the
details OF the horror was Dr.. @. W. Mckee.
The Doctor is a prosperous looking, luCelll-
gent man of 81, who promptly responded in
the dead of night TO a call thar he take
hand car and 60 tC The scene OF the wreck,
three miles from his residence. DR..
Mckee rendered noble services. he had
sc Mt time 70 give his experience in detail,
but stated that to the best OF mis- knowledge
it would not be oVersLatlDg the facts 10 say
that the collision had cost the lives of fully
thirty people II was shortly after i
O'Clock this morning when he reached the
wreck, and he Immediately began to give
his services to the wounded. Those who
we're badly hurt when the crash came he
says must have had little chance for their
lives, so quickly had the cars taken fire
and 50 thorough was the WCrE OF the
flames. AS an illustration of the
destruction and the difficulty of
arriving at a correct idea offs magnitude,
the doctor said that probably not a soul
would have been aware OF the all but total
Wiping ont of the Miller family of six mad
not their boy been saved. DR.. Mckee stated
that ORly nine bodies had been recovered,
and they were 50 badly charred as
to be almost beyond recognition,
tie most left of scarcely any
of them being a blackened trunk ard in
some cases little beyond few handfuls of
ashes.
The nina we're as follows;
The Miller family, of Dundee, father,
mother, tvs p brothers and a girl. Their II
year old boy, HerntIn, viii probably die.
Dr.. Perry, Of North Judsou, Ind, DR.. Yer
rvs wife, DR.. Perry slaughter aged II, and
a young Irish lady.
1t appears that Corner Leatherman did
not enpanel jury. That procedure Is not
q necessity according to the laws of Indiana
At the wreck the coroner was met 10y Mr..
johnson, the attorney for the Chicago IL
Atlantic and, being told that the
engineer of the freight had been taken with
other survivors to Huntington, decided to
go there, which he did, in company with the
railroad lawyer and several other gentle
men The coroner is we'll spoken of among
the people of KOut. They did not crltlclss
his action in going to Huntington, belieV-
ing he Is square. The coroner Is described
"a being rather q young man to be charged
with such an important duty as determln-
ing the responsibility of the wreck.
In the little sitting room of the cottage
which serves as a hotel here, two of he
wounded survivors of the accident still re-
manned this afternoon. Herman Miller, a
Bohemian boy on his way from Quincy H..
TO the old country, lay stretched on the one
lounge in the low, dark room. His head
is fearfully battered. The Othe" wounded
man is Joseph McCoOl, a bartender, OF BOs-
ton. who. had he not been a passenger on
the fated train, would have been welcomed
IN Chicago by his friends whom he had not
seen for years. His injuries are mostly in
ternal and not so severe but that his recoY-
cry Is possible. He was able 70 tel Of the
awful occurrence as follows:
- l was IN the passenger coach next to the
LIST car. just before midnigh- I went into
the smoker, just ahead Of our car, and chat
ted for an hour and came back to the coach